Everyday I drive my son back and forth from public school Kindergarten. It takes about 30 minutes. At one major intersection we typically see at least two homeless people and a variety of others hawking newspapers or sweatsocks or bottled water or something else to consume. It has been getting much more crowed at the intersections of late.
At first, he took no notice of them. The last few weeks he has become fascinated by all these people especially since I buy a paper or two or a bottle of water because I feel the need to 'help'.
After a long discussion on our drive, he came to the conclusion that the best answer for homeless folks is for him to become a scientist when he grows up so that he can invent something that will keep people from being hungry and in the street [meaning not in their homes].
I live way north in Chicago and the school is way south. It's one of those highly rated 'gifted' programs. The kids are introduced to all sorts of things that many typical schools are hard pressed to provide because of budgetary constraints, etc. I am very lucky, my son is very lucky.
Anyway, the point being we get lots of talking/bonding time on our drives back and forth.
He asks about the folks at the intersections with the signs that say 'please help' or 'homeless' or some other variant of this. He can see for himself the individuals selling items but the signs confused him at first.
I've been telling him that some people don't have jobs and therefore don't have money to buy food, etc. He asks why and I try to give answers that 5 year olds will understand. He was confused as to where homeless people live and I tried to answer without being judgemental and without freaking him out. I think I did well.
He thought about all I said for a while and said something to the effect of: "Well mom, I don't need my gatorade today. Can you give that man the gatorade money so that he can eat something." I thanked him for his concern but then the light changed and I left. [I still feel guilty about it.]
Inside I was jumping for joy that he could feel empathy towards others and want to alter his selfish 5 year old universe.
We talked at length about other ways of helping people [volunteering, making donations to organizations, blah blah].
This is when he asked me if "scientists can invent anything that they want?" I said absolutely. "Can they invent new dinosaurs that won't eat humans?" Why yes, they probably can. "Mom, I think I want to be a scientist and invent something that will help people have food in their refridgerators if they can't get a job like dad. Oh yeah, and a herbivore Velocipator."
I believe that my 5 year old has more empathy and real concern for his fellow man and has more belief in the wonders and ability of scientific endeavor than the Repbulicans [right wing wacknuts like Pal-in-ass and super grumpy old-man-time] out there.
I can't wait until he grows up and invents 'something'. Maybe a machine that can change peoples' political and world views for the better....